Spiritual Life
by Rev. John J. Thilges, S.V.D.
It was the privilege of St. Gertrude to rest on the breast of Jesus, but it was the mission of St. Margaret Mary to give the devotion of the Sacred Heart to the world. It was to her that Christ confided twelve promises in behalf of those who would honor and love His Sacred Heart.
Booklet, size 8.5" x 5.3", 56 pages, Impr 1945
by St Catherine of Siena
St. Catherine of Siena's Dialogue describes the entire spiritual life through a series of conversations between God and the soul, represented by Catherine herself. Readers of The Dialogue of Saint Catherine of Siena will find her revelations from God as informative—and formative—as those who recognized her sanctity during her life.
The universally applicable yet intimately personal messages she received from God are as much for us as they were for Catherine. We can read God's communications to His beloved daughter with detached awe, or we can receive His messages to us through her writings.
Do you long for certainty that Divine Providence exists in the midst of our chaotic world? Does your prayer seem too dry, or too routine? Have you sought guidance for the challenges of your life from unhelpful people or things? Or has pride kept you from humble obedience to the Church? If so, St. Catherine's Dialogue will provide consolation, encouragement, and hope.
Paperback, size 8.5" x 5.5", 215 pages
by Fr. Paul O'Sullivan, EDM OP, STL
Everyone wants to be happy. While not everyone wants to be holy, we all should—especially because this is the surest way to become happy. Christ Himself gave us very clear directions on how to be happy when He sat down and pronounced the Beatitudes. Since then, all the Saints have sought to follow the advice of their Divine Creator and Redeemer in the way of true joy.
In How to Be Happy; How to Be Holy, Fr. Paul O'Sullivan offers guidance on how to achieve both sanctity and happiness, showing how the two go hand in hand. Providing lovely anecdotes from the lives of the Saints, Fr. O'Sullivan shows us in a warm, encouraging, and inspiring way the importance of prayer and the ease with which we can all derive great benefits therefrom. While not yet Saints ourselves, we will surely make it there following the advice of this little book. Among the contents are expositions on all the major prayers (and some lesser-known ones), explanations of the Mass, meditations on the mysteries of the Rosary, and more. This book is a pocket method for approaching heaven and thus true happiness.
Paperback, size 8.5" x 5.5", 234 pages
by Fr Denis Fahey, C.S.Sp
Mental prayer is, in a certain sense, the most important exercise of the spiritual life. Fidelity to it (saints tell us) will ensure salvation; its complete abandonment may lead to perdition; progress therein means a corresponding progress in the interior life of union with God. Hence, the special value of books which treat of mental prayer. The excellence of the present work lies in the source from which it is drawn. St. Thomas Aquinas holds a unique place among the Doctors of the Church. He has become the official theologian of Christ s Mystical Spouse, her Universal Doctor. She has canonized his teaching, making it her own in all its essential elements.
This is the first of Fr. Fahey's books to be published, and it remains one of his most important for it presents the foundation of his spiritual life of prayer that was so fruitful.
Paperback, size 8.5" x 5.5", 58 pages
A Handbook for Christians
by Fr William Ullathorne
Find lasting happiness through the two virtues that lead to all others: patience and humility.
Heroism, self-denial, and even martyrdom are worthless without humility and patience. This book shows you how to develop these two key virtues, no matter how difficult your circumstances may be.
You’ll learn why Jesus said that to save your life, you must first lose it, and you’ll come to see how the self-surrender in humility and patience is guaranteed to bring you lasting peace and happiness.
From this simple book you’ll learn many things:
- Ten ways you can start acquiring patience today
- Why God’s patience is the guarantee of your salvation
- Humility: why it’s the foundation of our Christian Faith
- The startling reason why God rejects the proud
- The four ways that patience heals the soul
- Easily hurt or disappointed? Learn the Lord’s antidote!
- How to avoid all spiritual injury – forever!
- Why humility is the very core of holiness
- The battle for your soul: do you know who’s winning?
- God’s own humility: it’s a searing lesson for the proud
- Minor troubles: how to keep them from overwhelming you
- The secret rewards of humility that only the humble know
- Five obstacles to virtue: how to overcome them
- Why troubles may be your most valuable possessions
- How faith depends on the virtue of humility
- Three obstacles to prayer: a simple way to wipe them out
- Six conditions for making your prayer more effective
- Spiritual problems: how to gain strength to overcome them
- And many other truths to make your life happier and holier
Paperback, size 7" x 5", 144 pages
by unknown
The Thoughts of the Cure D'Ars is the most beautiful, simple, and inspiring statement of practical Catholic wisdom that most of us will likely ever read. Consisting of short, profound sayings, almost comparable to the proverbs in the Bible, this little book reflects perfectly its simple but holy author, St. John Vianney.
Jean-Marie Baptiste Vianney (1786-1859) was popularly known as the Cure of Ars, or the parish priest of Ars, which is a small farmer's village north of Lyons, France. Though of poor education, the Cure of Ars was very intelligent and well versed in the Faith. He rose to great sanctity, converted thousands of souls to Christ, became famous throughout the Catholic world, and in 1929 Pope Pius XI proclaimed him "Patron Saint of Parish Priests" worldwide! This little book is a sample of his sanctity and wisdom.
Booklet, size 6" x 3.75", 80 pages
Crown of the Virgin
An Ancient Meditation on Mary's Beauty, Virtue and Sanctity
by St Ildephonsus of Toledo
In this book, St. Ildephonsus of Toledo provides a powerful, imaginative and lyrical set of meditations on the Immaculate Mother of God, reflecting on her splendour, beauty and sanctity.
This publication is the first translation into English of a Latin work, entitled Libellus de Corona Virginis, or “The Little Book on the Crown of the Virgin.” Traditionally, it has been ascribed to St. Ildephonsus of Toledo, a great monk, abbot and bishop of the 7th century. St. Ildephonsus contributed powerfully to the dissemination of the doctrine of the Perpetual Virginity of Our Lady in Western Europe, and to the popularization of fervent Marian devotion in Spain. In this beautiful, moving and ornate literary portrait, the author imaginatively and lyrically fashions a magnificent crown for the Blessed Virgin Mary, decorated with twelve radiant jewels, six brilliant stars and six fragrant flower blossoms. Each of these is interpreted as representing a particular aspect of the beauty, beneficence, virtue or sanctity of the Blessed Virgin.
A perfect companion for guiding daily devotion to the Mother of Mercy and the Queen of Heaven, each chapter reveals a new and scintillating glimpse into the glories of Mary, sure to inspire the heart of the reader with ever more ardent devotion to the Mother of God, the vessel of all graces and the paradigm and perfection of every virtue. As a guide to meditation and a catalyst for prayer, the Crown of the Virgin is an illuminating mirror of the beauty and splendour of the one who is herself the refulgent and immaculate image of her Divine Son.
Hardcover, size 7.25" x 5.25", 144 pages
We are all so apt to idealise the Saints whom we love to study and honour, and strive to imitate, that we are in danger of forgetting that they possessed a human nature like our own, subject to many trials, weaknesses and frailties. They had to struggle as we have to struggle. In the case of some of the Saints we are able to come nearer to the reality by reading the letters which have been preserved, in which in their own handwriting they have set down, without thought of those who in later days might read their words, the details of their daily life and struggle. Thus in the few selected Letters of the holy foundress of the Visitation which are now being published in an English translation we get glimpses of her real character and spiritual growth which may be more helpful to us than many pages of formal biography.
Paperback, size 8" x 5", 255 pages, Impr 1917.
Revelations of St. Bridget
on the Life and Passion of Our Lord and the Life of His Blessed Mother
by St. Bridget of Sweden
Saint Bridget of Sweden was one of the most privileged mystics in the history of the Church. Born to a wealthy family, she was given in marriage to a pious and good-hearted nobleman, with whom she raised eight children, including the future Saint Catherine of Sweden. When her husband died, Bridget founded an order of nuns, the Order of the Most Holy Savior, more commonly called the Bridgettines. She laboured until her death to spread her order and boost morality and devotion in the decadent 14th century Church. She also labored to bring the papacy back to Rome from Avignon. In all her efforts, she was wise, charitable, and outstanding in sanctity.
Devout from a young age, Saint Bridget also received numerous visions of Our Lord and Our Lady, including intimate details of Our Lady's early life, the Holy Family in Nazareth, and the Passion, first recorded in 1492. Revelations of St. Bridget provides excerpts from these eye-opening visions, which bring into focus many unknown facets of the hidden life of Our Lord and His Mother. These visions have been approved as orthodox and worthy of pious belief by the Holy See. The insights received by Saint Bridget are matched by very few other mystics', showing her privileges before the Throne of God. This volume also includes the famous 15 Prayers attributed to her, popular devotions in the late Middle Ages and our own era.
Do not miss these stirring and vivid accounts from one of the greatest foundresses of the Church's history. Imbued throughout her visions is the undeniable spirit of piety, devotion, and saintliness that characterized St. Bridget's earthly life—and by which she merited to become privy to such sublime mysteries.
Paperback, size 6" x 4", 96 pages
by the Very Rev. Dean A.A. Longs.
Originally published by Benziger Bros. in 1899.
41 short, enjoyable chapters covering the life of the Divine Child starting with "Necessity of a Divine Redeemer", to "The Birth of the Blessed Virgin", and continuing with "The Nativity of Our Lord, etc.
This book teaches many examples to be applied in life for the younger generation. Example: chapters on humility, obedience, mortification, charity and "Jesus the model of Industry."
Paperback, size 6" x 5", 256 pages, Impr.
by St John Vianney
Composed when he was a young priest, The Sermons of the Cure of Ars constitutes one of the most powerful Saints' writings in the literature of the Church. Covering a wide range of vital moral and doctrinal issues for the average layman, St. John Vianney addresses the duties of parents, of the mother, of the pregnant woman, Annual Confessions, How death will reveal thieves, It is necessary to be converted, You no longer control them (your children), The sewer of Hell, Bad company, etc., etc. No one will read this book without realizing that his own moral subterfuges have been laid bare and that he needs to address the camouflaged sins and weaknesses lying buried in his inmost heart. Impr.
Paperback, size 9" x 6", 195 pages
The Twelve Degrees of Humility and Pride
by St. Bernard of Clairvaux
In his masterful 12th-century work, The Twelve Degrees of Humility and Pride, St. Bernard of Clairvaux--the "Doctor Mellifluus" or "Honey-Sweet Doctor"-- eloquently crafts a soul's guide to spiritual ascent and descent. With his deep understanding of human nature and his own monastic experience, St. Bernard outlines a path that leads away from the self-deception of pride towards the liberating embrace of humility.
St. Bernard illustrates humility as the foundation of a life anchored in truth, where self-knowledge and the recognition of God's greatness kindle the desire for inner transformation. In contrast, pride is depicted as a deceptive force, leading one away from God and into the isolation of self-importance. The saint's discerning eye lays bare the subtle gradations between these two extremes, offering a ladder of spiritual progression for the earnest seeker.
For nearly a millennium, the "honey-sweet" words of the Doctor Mellifluus have resonated with those yearning for a deeper relationship with the divine. This book is not merely a historical artifact; it is a living text that speaks directly to the heart, offering wisdom that transcends the centuries. For anyone seeking to navigate the complexities of spiritual growth, The Twelve Degrees of Humility and Pride offers a compass that points unerringly to the transformative power of humility in a life consecrated to God.
Paperback, size 7" x 5", 144 pages
With the Church, Volume 1
Advent to the Ascension
by Mother Mary Loyola
Now for the first time in nearly a century, this classic set of meditations on the Liturgical Year are back in print! Written while Mother Loyola was bedridden with a hip fracture, these devotions bring us the urgency of living our life With the Church, for we "know not the day nor the hour."
The Irish Monthly back in 1924 had this to say about With the Church: “Father Thurston tells us that forty years ago Mother Loyola, when bringing out anonymously her first book on Holy Communion, and being anxious to get ecclesiastical recommendation for it, asked him to write a short preface. The favourable reception accorded by the Catholic public to the numerous books which she has brought out since that time has amply justified Fr. Thurston’s judgment in recommending the authoress’s work. This latest book of hers consists of a series of reflections on the feasts of the year from Advent to the Ascension. Her thoughts are always well-grounded and ingenious, and their expression is clear and graceful, with a strong personal charm. They are musings jotted down just as they occur to her devotional spirit and not simply as dictated by a resolution to follow a certain line.”
Paperback, size 5.5" x 8.5", 380 pages
from The Mystical City of God
by Ven. Mary of Agreda
Taken from the ever popular Mystical City of God, this illuminating abridgment describes heretofore unknown mysteries in the life of Our Lady, giving an account of numerous events and miracles in her life, as seen in vision by Venerable Mary of Ágreda. The Divine Life of the Most Holy Virgin describes Our Lady's vital role in many events of Christ's life, from His Infancy through His Passion, Death, Resurrection, and Ascension—plus her life in the early Church, including her miraculous trip to see St. James in Spain, how her body was assumed into Heaven, and much, much more. Particularly revealing are the accounts of how the Angels served Our Lady and of Lucifer's continual warfare against her and against the Catholic Church.
From this book, we can realize something of Our Lady's greatness by learning of the wonderful favors bestowed on her by God, such as infused supernatural knowledge from the moment of her conception, the visible presence of the Angels, the continual Eucharistic presence of Our Lord within her after she received Holy Communion, and her frequent visits to Heaven during her life on earth. In sum, The Divine Life of the Most Holy Virgin gives a whole new appreciation for the greatness of the Blessed Virgin Mary, showing the amazing heights to which God has raised her.
Mary of Jesus of Ágreda, O.I.C., also known as the Abbess of Ágreda, was a Franciscan abbess and spiritual writer, known especially for her extensive correspondence with King Philip IV of Spain and reports of her bilocation between Spain and its colonies in New Spain. She was a noted mystic of her era and received many visions, some of which appear in The Divine Life of the Most Holy Virgin, along with ecstasies.
Paperback, size 7" x 4.4", 385 pages
With considerations on the Passion.
Translated from the Italian of St. Alphonsus Liguori by a Catholic Clergyman.
Described in simple language, according to the narration of the Holy Evangelist. This book is filled with the events of Christ’s crucifixion with bible verses placed in appropriate areas for explanation. Also, has many prayers. As you read this unusual book you will feel that you are right there with our Lord and follow Him all the way.
Paperback, size 8" x 5.25", 256 pages
Doctor of the Church, patron of the press, patron saint of the deaf, and patron of the Archconfraternity of Christian Doctrine. He touched the lives of thousands during his life and his wise and loving counsels have inspired millions since his death. The conversion of thousands of heretics is credited to the examples he showed, which worked miracles of grace wherever he appeared. St. Francis is the Apostle of Cheerfulness and Hope. He was a most holy and faithful priest and bishop. He wrote numerous letters and the book entitled Introduction to the Devout Life, among many other works of rare merit. His writings are uplifting and a breath of fresh air.
Booklet, size 8.3" x 5", 31 pages, Impr 1948
by Kevin Vost
Though the controversies and scandals racking the Church today cannot ultimately prevail against it, they have certainly created rifts between believers like never before. Where can we look to rediscover the heart of our Faith so that, as Christ Himself prayed, we might all be one? Almost every pope has declared the answer since 1323 when Pope John XXII named one man the Common Doctor of the Church whose philosophy and approach to truth are to be held in common, cherished, and shared, by all of the Church throughout time St. Thomas Aquinas. Through his unequalled powers of intellect, enhanced by his full embrace of all the Holy Spirits gifts, Thomass writings provide the utterly timeless life lessons we must heed if we, the Church, are to become one in our pursuit of eternal salvation for ourselves and for all men. Here, youll find the twelve essential, eternal life lessons culled from Thomass writings, accompanied by practical ways to implement them in your life.
Paperback, size 8.5" x 5.5", 304 pages
Purgatory
The Two Catholic Views Of Purgatory Based On Catholic Teaching And Revelations Of Saintly Souls
by Fr. Frederick William Faber
In Purgatory: The Two Catholic Views of Purgatory Based on Catholic Teaching and Revelations of Saintly Souls, Fr. Faber is at it again explaining Catholic doctrine in a clear and engaging manner rare in modern times. Considering the different views Catholics have had about Purgatory over the ages, Fr. Faber asks: What is Purgatory like? Is it almost like Hell? Or is it a place of relative peace and even joy? Emphasizing that Catholicism has no definitive answer for such mysteries, Fr. Faber explores the traditions about this place of God's Mercy that nevertheless involves pain. He bases his discussion on teachings and revelations from saintly souls, including St. Catherine of Genoa's well-known Treatise on Purgatory (available in The Spiritual Doctrine of St. Catherine of Genoa).
As always, Fr. Faber's prowess as a writer and teacher of the Catholic Faith shines admirably. His work is thorough, concise, and, as ever, deeply moving on account of the holiness of his own soul and the beauty of the words that spring from it.
Paperback, size 7" x 4.25", 96 pages